Category: Articles

I wanted to let all of you know that with the help of some of our Temple members I recently applied for a grant from the Department of Homeland Security to make some security improvements at the Temple. I am happy to announce that the Temple has been granted $74,000. We are planning to add video surveillance all around the building, and replacing some of our light fixtures. We will be replacing the doors at the north and south entrances of the upper level of our facility, and we will be adding new hardware to all of our entrances including panic bars so that you can exit the building in case of an emergency. We will be adding programmable key card scanners, as well as an automatic door opener for greater handicap accessibility at our Grand Avenue entrance.

These new features will make our building more secure, but it will take staff and members of our congregation working together to truly ensure the safety of everyone in our building. We recently held a “town hall” style meeting to discuss how we can continue to enhance security at the Temple. At this meeting we discussed limiting access to the Temple for all events and making sure that we had properly trained staff and volunteers present at all events to monitor the doors during the times they would be open.

Taking the feedback we received at this meeting, our Board of Trustees will be meeting in November
to discuss the security policies that we want to implement. These policies will cause some inconvenience as our members get used to the changes. For example if you forget something in your car during a service, you will have to be mindful of the fact that the door will be locked when you exit the building. You will have to let someone know to let you back in the building. That will be inconvenient, but limiting, controlling, and monitoring access to our building is one of the best ways to ensure the safety of everyone inside, and that benefit far outweighs the inconvenience.

Could a violent incident happen here? I hope and pray that it doesn’t, but shortly after I wrote my original draft of this article I saw the news about Tree of Life Synagogue. It was absolutely heartbreaking to see that once again a faith community was the target of an act of violence, and it was very clear that this incident occurred because anti-semitism is very much on the rise in our world.

We cannot change how people will see us, we cannot change the fact that some people will hate us, but we can make sure that we continue to be a light in this world. We can make sure that everyone who enters our doors is secure and safe. I’m very proud of the fact that we have been taking proactive steps to ensure the safety and security of everyone in our building, and I know that working together we will do everything we can to ensure that Temple B’nai Jeshurun is a safe place for all who enter.

With a broken heart, I attended the prayer vigil at Tifereth Israel to mourn 11 lives lost at the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh. It’s estimated that over 1,000 people attended the vigil with 500 people filling the sanctuary and lobby area and another 500 standing outside and encircling the synagogue. Those who attended listened to religious leaders from across the area show their support for the Jewish community. Rabbi Kaufman’s emotional and compelling speech was well received. Speeches from Rabbi Barton, Rabbi Jacobson as well as deacons, reverends, pastors and an imam expressed their unity against violence. The vigil ended with all of the religious leaders standing at the front of the sanctuary singing “Let There Be Peace On Earth.”

As all of us come to grips with this latest tragedy, it’s important to know that Temple and the entire Jewish community will continue to discuss the next steps in how we can better secure our facilities. Although there are no easy answers to this challenging topic, we continue to take steps to assess our current security at Temple and how we can improve it.

Both Rabbi Kaufman and David Muenchrath recently held a meeting open to all congregants about security and discussed possible options to prevent unwanted visitors from entering our building. In addition, we recently purchased and will soon install a monitoring system that will oversee our entrances. David recently applied for and was awarded a federal grant that focuses exclusively on security enhancements to our facility. All of these examples are measures we are taking to enhance security.

Our Board is committed to addressing the security challenges that face us and will begin outlining and adopting policies that will ensure the safety of our congregants and guests. Any new policies are meant to ensure a safe environment at Temple. Like anything new, it will take time for any new policy to become the new normal. All of us are part of the solution and we all need to work together to ensure a secure and welcoming congregation.

I appreciate your patience and support as we continue to address this challenging issue.

I stand before you, a descendant of immigrants from Eastern Europe. Warfare, economic hardship, and
persecution forced them to leave lands where their ancestors had lived for generations. My three-year-old
grandmother crossed borders guided by her nine-year-old sister, smuggled out beneath blankets by their mother in the back of wagon, under the cover of darkness, all afraid for their lives.

Eventually, they made it safely to America. America is a nation of immigrants, many of whom fled religious persecution in search of freedom. We are a nation who so prized our welcoming nature as to enshrine it on the Statue of Liberty in the words of Emma Lazarus’ “New Colossus,” words that greeted my grandparents as they came to Ellis Island:

These words do not come from nowhere. They are based on the words of the Prophet Isaiah:

Isaiah 58: This is the fast I desire: to unlock the fetters of wickedness and untie
the cords of lawlessness; to let the oppressed go free and break off every yoke.

It is to share your food with the wretched and take the poor into your home;
When you see the naked, clothe them and do not ignore your own kin.
Then will your light burst through like the dawn and your healing will spring up quickly.
[When] your higher-self leads you, the weight of God is behind you.
Thus [now], when you call out, God will answer;

When you call out God will say: Hineni, here I am.

We are all God’s children. Jewish tradition tells us that we are all created in God’s image. Sometimes, too often if you ask me, that image is reflected with more than a bit of distortion, emphasizing the worst aspects of our nature.

We Jews have seen the hate-filled faces before, through many generations in many countries. Too often, historically, the torches of hatred have entered Jewish neighborhoods and set synagogues, businesses, and homes aflame.

We don’t knock down or abandon places where violence has happened. We mop up the blood. We patch the holes in the walls. And we live with the holes in our hearts. In synagogues, like the one in Pittsburgh and so many others through the ages, we have stood holding the Torah, our tree of life, in those now sanctified places where people died, Kedush HaShem, martyrs in sanctification of God’s name. And God is right there with us, as we return the next day, and offer the same words of prayer and song, of peace and love, and of thanksgiving, words that have inspired generations.

Most of the time, historically, it has only been a small percentage of the local population that was involved in the violence. The vast majority of people, good people, stood by and watched.

Maurice Ogden wrote a poem called “The Hangman.” It’s a bit long for me to read to its theme is very important. Ogden’s poem is about a Hangman who comes into a town and begins to single out people for hanging. He begins with the weakest minority and then keeps dividing and dividing, singling out and singling out, until the very last person is finally hung upon the gallows.

The one who did nothing to offend, nothing to get in the way, of the one promoting violence and hatred of the other, of the immigrants, of racial or political minorities, of Jews or of other faiths. We will not be like the Hangman’s faithful servant. We will not stand by and allow age-old hatreds against Jews to rise again unchallenged. We will not allow hatreds of any kind to spread.

At the vigil, it was wonderful and, oh so appreciated, to see so many people there, over 1,000, including at least 150 members of the clergy representing numerous faiths, to support us and to have heard from so many who reached out in care and concern. It is our nature to be there for others in times of need, and we value the caring and support of our friends in the interfaith community in return.

We are a people who care deeply about everyone else. Caring for those who are ill and otherwise in need is a big deal for us. We are a people who see ourselves in Henny Youngman’s brief joke.

“A Jewish woman had two chickens. One got sick, so the woman made chicken soup out of the other one to help the sick one get well.” That is us.

We Jews know that human beings can and too often do act cruelly and inhumanely toward one another. Our tradition tells us that when we find ourselves among those not acting humanely, even if no one else is, our job is to be a mensch, to be a human being. As Hillel taught, “Bamakom sh’ein anashim, hishtadeil li-hiyot ish.” “In a place where there are no human beings, strive to be a person.”Jewish doctors and nurses treated the shooter when he was brought to the hospital. It’s what we do. It’s who we are.

And we expect the best of this country and its leaders.

We are like Moses Seixas, a Jewish congregational president in Newport, Rhode Island, who wrote a
letter to the first President of the United States, George Washington, checking to see if the new nation’s leadership would indeed “give to bigotry no sanction, to persecution no assistance.” And we expect that our government will live up to that ideal to this very day.

We are a people who look at a world filled with violence, a world filled with hatred, a world in which age-old prejudices surface again and again, and believe, we can, with the help of our friends change it. We are a people who believe the words of Theodore Hirzl, “Im tirzu, ein zo aggadah,” “If you will it, it is no dream,” because we have seen our hopes amid the darkness become reality.

Confronted time and time again with opportunities to join the majority, to bring an end to difficulty, oppression, and great suffering, we have remained true to our beliefs.

Before Kings and Priests, before soldiers with swords or guns and mobs with torches, who all wanted us to say something else, believe something else, or simply to vanish from the face of the earth, we bravely uttered, “Shema Yisrael, Adonai eloheinu, Adonai echad!” “Here, O Israel, Adonai is our God, Adonai alone!”

Today, we come together to declare that we will not allow ourselves to remain silent as hatred is offered. We will not be cowed into silence. This is our country. This is our home. May it always be truly both the land of the free and the home of the brave… and let us be brave.

Alan Adato, Sally Frank, and I had the pleasure and honor of representing the Temple at the 73rd Union for Reform Judaism (URJ) Biennial in Orlando, Florida. It was a rewarding and nostalgic experience to be one among 5,000 rabbis, cantors, congregants, and Reform Jews who had chosen to attend this event.

I had been longing for this moment to reconnect to my days of NFTY past. My teenage years were devoted to the Temple Youth Group board. In four years, I never missed a conclave in the Missouri Valley Region. I traveled to LA my senior year of high school for the NFTY National Convention. NFTY defined my high school years. Somewhere on this planet exists a cassette tape recording of Shir Hama-alot featuring yours truly. That’s where my Jewish adolescent journey ended.

I left for college, moved around a bit, and my once active Jewish upbringing became less of a focus as, much like my twenty-something peers, I tried to figure out my life path. My life lacked a Jewish social network. I didn’t belong to a congregation and often had to be reminded it was a high holiday by my parents. I always identified myself as Jewish, and knew a day would come when I would reestablish my connection within a Jewish community.

At 7:45 in the morning, on the third day of Biennial, I found myself at a NFTY camp style song session in search of a Debbie Friedman fix. I sat in one of the back rows, quietly singing along, the words easily coming back to me as though camp had been a few months before rather than two decades ago. I felt the emotions rise within me and I fought back tears. It was a beautiful hour and a reminder of the power of music and togetherness.

Before attending the Biennial, an email was sent presenting four tracks (or themes) to choose from and follow throughout the week of the conference. I chose audacious hospitality. Audaciously hospitable is to be kind, open and inviting. As a religious organization, it is to know your audience, your congregants and community and find a way to be welcoming, warm and friendly. It appealed to me on several levels. As a teenager, I found these qualities in my relationships and friendships in NFTY. They were unique and special. They had a sound and a feeling and were shared among a group of people who chose to come together with a common interest in mind. As an adult, I found my way back to the Temple to be part of this community and to feel this same sense of belonging and fellowship.

Biennial exists to bring members of Reform Jewish communities – from across the country – together to discuss the current ideology of the Reform Movement. It is progressive, accepting and inclusive. It was such a privilege to be a part of a group of like minded people who share the same concerns of keeping our communities strong and know the challenges that we face in retaining and increasing membership. This is a shared concern and we are each trying to identify new ways of keeping things fresh, open and interesting.

There is nothing more beautiful or uplifting than the sound of 5,000 Jewish voices singing the songs of Shabbat. Familiar and comfortable. This sound confirms the importance of doing all we can to strengthen our Jewish community and always offering audacious hospitality to all our members and guests. This ensures that we have a community year after year, decade after decade. As a congregant in an accepting interfaith marriage, a board member, a parent with bar and bat-mitzvah future dreams, I feel confident that Temple B’nai Jeshurun will continue to strive to strengthen our community and our congregation while also providing hospitality that is welcoming, all inclusive, warm and friendly.

The Biennial was a rich and enlightening experience. I sincerely thank the Temple, the Board, and the contributors to the Mandelbaum Fund for the opportunity to attend. It was a privilege and I look forward to sharing my experiences with our congregation.